Men's Soccer

Men's Soccer

Bobcats Ranked #7 in Final Post Season National Poll

Dec 07, 2007

KANSAS CITY, MO--The Lees-McRae Bobcats soccer team finished the
2007 season as the seventh ranked team in NCAA Division II Men's
according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of
America/adidas final post season poll. The final post season
ranking of seventh in the nation is the best in program history,
bettering the Bobcats last year's end ranking of 22nd in 2002.

In a storybook season, Head Coach Chris Whalley led the Bobcats
to a number of program firsts in just his third year as head
coach. The Bobcats, who finished the season with a 21-2-1 record,
earned their first ever trip to the NCAA Men's Soccer
Championships, defeating Queens University of Charlotte (3-0) and
Lander University (1-0), before falling to University of Montevallo
in Elite Eight action. Before qualifying for the NCAA
Championships, the Bobcats earned their first Conference Carolinas
Regular Season Championship since 2001 and their first Tournament
Championship since 2003. The conference double is also the first
time in history that a team from Conference Carolinas, or the
former Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference, has claimed both the
regular season and tournament championship in the same season. The
Bobcats' 21 wins in 2007 is the best in program history.

After starting the season unranked, the Bobcats cracked the
NSCAA/adidas poll after the second week of the season, entering the
Top 25 at #19 after a 4-0 start. After a 1-0-1 week defeating
Erskine and tying #15 Clayton State University, the Bobcats moved
up to #11, a program best at the time. Following a heartbreaking
last minute 1-0 loss in double overtime to conference foe Anderson,
the Bobcats dropped to #18 in the poll with a 5-1-1 record. The
Bobcats would respond by winning a program record 16 consecutive
games, jumping to #7 to crack to the top ten for the first time
after week five. Catapulting the Bobcats through the national
rankings, the streak was started by three consecutive shutouts,
moving the Bobcats to #3 after week six and up one to number two
after week seven. The Bobcats would hold the #2 ranking; the
program's new all time best through weeks eight, nine and ten and
into the NCAA Tournament.

"I am extremely proud of the boys and what we were able to
accomplish this past season. We set some goals for ourselves at
the beginning of the season, playing in November and being one of
the top ten teams in the nation are just two," stated Whalley. "I
am proud of our team, the sacrifices they have made and the hard
work that they have put in. While we're very disappointed that our
season came to an end in the quarterfinals of the national
championships, at the end of the day we're all pleased with our
season. We know what it takes to get here and how much harder we
have to work now to get to where we want to be; we're excited for
next season."

PICTURED TOP LEFT: 2007 Conference Carolinas Player of the Year
Berin Boracic in NCAA Tournament action.